Utility Navigation

Information for:

News Center

Congress Likely To Reconsider Card-Check Unionization

Publication Date:

February 15, 2009

Source:

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Author:

Salena Zito

Professor William B. Gould IV is quoted in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review in a story about the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill expected to come before Congress this year which would make unionization easier for employees. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review writes:

The Employee Free Choice Act, commonly called the "card-check bill," that died in the Senate in 2007, is expected to come before Congress again in spring or summer. It is often considered the most significant labor bill since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 established the ground rules for union organizing.

Under that act, in effect today, at least 30 percent of an employee group must sign cards requesting union representation. Once that threshold is met, the National Labor Relations Board certifies the cards and sets up a private vote. Approval by a majority of eligible employees puts union representation into place.

...

Labor leaders strongly favor the new proposal, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposes it. Thus both sides "are heavily invested in the outcome of this bill," said William B. Gould, a professor at Stanford Law School and former chair of the National Labor Relations Board. He said card-check could infuse the labor movement with momentum it has not seen in decades.